I feel like I’ve been all over the place, just this week. I started out with one idea how I was going to tackle my plans. Then, I read this post by Roni Loren, and went “oh! I can do something like that. Not as far as making a syllabus, but organizing my time in a sort of block schedule, like it was a class I needed to get to. But, that was not quite as flexible as I needed. Usually I have most of the day free. But, of course, both kids are in sports right now, so there’s a couple days when we have to go to a meet/game. And yesterday, we had an early appointment for my daughter to get her meningitis booster. Which definitely threw a wrench in that schedule.
So, I decided to try out a “schedule” of writing for the first 45 minutes of each hour(this could also include editing/plotting/publishing/marketing/beta/any bonus projects) and taking the rest of the hour to do my non-writing tasks. I have one project from each of those categories(not so much publishing at the moment, but I’m getting there). I may shake that up each week because my brain does not seem to like to stay focused on one thing for very long. And I’ll have 8 of those sessions throughout the day(with longer breaks for lunch/dinner). And we’ll see if I can stick with this.
Writing
Jax of All Trade 4
I wrote a little over 2100 words on this and am very near to revealing the dead body.
Prove Me Wrong
Added just over 2000 words. Finally getting to having each of the siblings meet their love interests(if this was a true romance, that would have happened sooner, but this is more family drama with some romantic elements I think).
Rounding for Home
I’ve added over 1500 words to this, and plan to get to more today. I’ve finished the first two scenes, and the main characters are about to meet(for the first time in this story, they actually have some history).
Slanting Sunlight
I compiled all my comments from my read through(plus from the first 2 chapters that I shared with critique group), started a fresh document, and started a new opening. I’ve only added about 225 words to that so far.
Queer Cruise
I’m working on re-plotting this and giving it more of a mystery angle(since it will be a lead-in to my Stitch of Pride mystery series). I started working on the second character’s back story, and got a little more than half a page(I always write these by hand).
Reading
Unwritten Rules by K.D. Casey
Baseball romance but make it queer?! Um, YES PLEASE! I may be writing my own, but I will take all of this I can get. And this was so good. I went and purchased the next book right away(haven’t started reading yet because I make a list at the beginning of the month and only add new ones if they’re library books or I finish the list). Can’t wait to get to it though.
Crafting
I had to pause the polysexual and proud cross stitch because I ran out of blue thread. I ordered more of that, but it hasn’t come in yet. So, I started the agender and proud one, and I’m almost finished with the flag for that one.
Story
I haven’t started writing the next Mermaid’s Jewel story, which is what I would have been sharing this week. Instead I’ll share the first scene from my Selkies story. These are going to be written episodically, like the other things I’ve been sharing. I may be putting these on a subscription service, but you can have the first look at them(and this is rough, I haven’t done any editing, unless I saw a typo).
She wrote it on the back of the list she had been keeping of the best neon signs she'd seen so far. There was no way to know if he would ever read it, but that wasn't the point.
Her mother said he wasn't coming back. She'd been telling Muiren that for nearly twelve years now. And maybe she was right. Maybe Muiren's father was lost to them forever. But, that didn't mean he'd completely forgotten them.
Did it?
She just had to hope wherever he was, whoever held his pelt for him now, he would find this. Just because he hadn't come back didn't mean he didn't love them. That was something else her mother had been insistent about. She had never blamed Dad for leaving. Had only said it was in his nature.
It was the risk you took when you fell in love with a selkie.
Muiren was never going to do something as foolish as that. Her mother would say thinking a note could bring her father back into their lives was foolish enough. She just couldn't bear to not do anything at all. What if he was out there looking for them? They'd moved away when he hadn't come back. This was the first time since that she'd been able to come back here. She dug the bottle with the note in it into the sand and sat there next to it, staring out at the water.
She reached out and picked up a small shell laying in the sand, brushing some of the grains off of it. And felt it pulse in her hand. She almost dropped it again. What had that been about?
Then, she did drop it when a head popped out of the water in front of her. The seal opened its mouth, letting out a quick bark. Muiren pressed a hand to her heart. "You scared me. Are you here all by yourself. Oh." The last word slipped out as the seal lengthened and flippers turned to arms and legs, and the same sleek brown of the skin turned to soft hair, swept off to one side.
"What are you doing with my shell?" the selkie asked. "Are you going to take my pelt?"
Muiren blinked then realized the shell must have rolled off what she had thought was a blanket. It was the same shade of the selkie's hair. "This is yours?" she asked, running a hand along it.
The selkie's eyes flashed. "Do not. If you--"
"I know what will happen if I take it. You will belong to me." Muiren looked down at the shell, picking it up and brushing off the sand once more. "And if someone else finds it, you will have no recourse but to go with them. Just as my father did." She looked back up and saw the selkie was staring at her. "I won't take anything from you..."
"Ronan," the selkie said as they took the shell Muiren held out, their head tipped to one side.
"Muiren," she said, with a smile. "Don't forget your coat, Ronan. I hope to see you again."
She would definitely have to find a way to get back here soon. As long as her mother did not learn what she was doing, she was sure that could happen.